FOREWORD In our ongoing attempts to explore and highlight aspects of our Gold Coast environment the beach is an impor tant and defining element. While activities relating to the beach are varied, we are increasingly conscious of the significance of sur fing as a pastime and for many a way of life. This exhibition seeks to draw out some of the intricacies of how ar tists have engaged with sur fing and the culture surrounding it. As an adjunct to our collecting activity in this area is an impor tant marker on our current and future program. I would like to acknowledge and thank the par ticipating ar tists for their commitment to the project and for making work available for exhibition. We are also hosting a number of public
F E A T U R I N G
programs around this exhibition and I would par ticularly like to mention the seminar Women and Sur fing that will feature talks by Dr Roslyn Franklin from Southern Cross University and local ar tist and sur fer Seabastion Toast. The event will also include the Gold Coast launch of Andrew Kidman’s new book Single – Stephanie Gilmore – Studies of Movement. While all of the ar tists in this exhibition are male we remain highly conscious of the significance women play in the sur f industr y and acknowledge this accordingly. Many people have supported this exhibition and I would like to thank Karen Spooner and Deb Morris from Galler y One, Gold Coast and Ash Kilmar tin, Vanessa Lloyd and Anna Schwar tz from Anna Schwar tz Galler y, Melbourne for their generous assistance. Byron Coathup has given the exhibition a highly befitting catalogue design and graphic identity and Fast Proof Press have come on board with much appreciated in-kind support for the printing of the catalogue. The project has been made possible through the generous suppor t of our Benefactor Program for which we are continually grateful. We are also grateful to the Gordon Darling
CHRIS BENNIE SHAUN GLADWELL ANDREW KIDMAN WILLIAM MACKINNON NANDA ORMOND BEN RAK JOEL REA
Foundation for providing the funding to print this catalogue. I would also like to thank our curators Virginia Rigney and in particular Emma Collerton for bringing this exhibition together with her usual thorough and professional approach. We are pleased to present this exhibition to coincide w ith the Bleach* Festi v al 2 015 and in par ticular the Bleach* Jnr events at The Ar ts Centre, Gold Coast. Such events continue our endeavours to inspire new gener ations to embr ace ar t and culture w ith a par ticul ar reference to the City of Gold Coast.
John Walsh Galler y Manager
02
This program has been made possible through the generous support of our Benefactor Program.
03
IMAGE: WILLIAM MACKINNON, Green Wave 2013, oil and enamel on canvas, Courtesy of the artist and Utopian Slumps, Melbourne.
CUTTING BACK AND GOING FORWARD BY VIRGINIA
The sur fing manoeuvre now internationally
global phenomenon that has distinctly
understood as the cutback had its origins on
localised expressions, a spectacle comodifed
longboards in the early 1960s as a graceful
and garlanded with the trappings of
sweeping turn but reached its apotheosis
RIGNEY
on the beaches of the Gold Coast with the dynamic style of Michael Peterson in the
soli t a r y exper ience; and an ac ti v it y analysed and photographed in extraordinar y detail across a plethora of journals, blogs,
early 1970s. His action has been immortalised
web cams, new academic writing and
in the landmark film by Alby Falzon and David
dedicated institutions, yet remaining some-
Elfick, Morning of the Ear th (1971). It’s a
what illusive to those outside of it with a
s w if t tur ning movement that sees the sur fer
private language of codes and rituals that
sharply change direction and push back
seem to belong only to the initiated.
towards the whitewater, searching for more time on the precious face and more speed than would be possible by simply following the line of the breaking wave. Here, Cutback is a metaphor to prefigure a recent body of contemporar y ar t. Seven ar tists represented in this exhibition, are extending beyond the literal representation of sur fing, the beach and waves. They are going back into the depths of both universal cultural and personal histories to address matters not conventionally thought possible in the domain of sur f culture and in so doing are creating a heightened sense of e n g a g e ment with sur fing.
04
c o m merce yet principally enjoyed as a
The sea as the site where all this occurs is the pr imar y f ac tor that shapes these dynamics and the element that also fuels a number of the ar tists in this exhibition with narratives that allow them to conceptually structure their creative work. Its mysteries and elemental power remain undiminished in the era of climate change, but our own relationship and sense of responsibility to it
Cutback : Old Myths and new legends Shaun Gladwell presents two works that
or increasingly their turn on a wave. Mackinnon’s
depict sur f riders within a contemporar y
work Lull is a depiction of a cluster of sur fers
setting that draw on historic texts. In The
perched on the boards, heads bowed… in
Archer ( After Chang Tzu) a poem by the 4th
their own worlds, waiting and waiting – the
centur y Chinese philosopher Chang Tzu is
detailed obser vations of the par ticularities
the central point of reference exploring the
of their individual wetsuits and the outline
essential motivation for the demonstration
shapes of their heads reveal the ar tists’
of athletic skill and dilemmas associated
keen obser vation and lengthy time spent out
with the expectations that come with that
floating in anticipation of exhilaration.
challenge. In the Flying Dutchman In Blue (Coogee 2) the single image of the swimmer or sur fer facing the waves arms outstretched in per fec t s y mmetr y , references the 17th Century myth of the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman and this work was originally commissioned by Rotterdam Opera for a performance of Wagner’s Opera Der Fliegende Holländer.
Chris Bennie’s recent Asia Link residency in Japan allowed him the oppor tunity to ponder the impact of the Fukushima disaster and to draw together threads from his recent readings of some of the great my thological stories set amongst the sea: Poseidon, the Iliad, Apollo and Gilgamesh are some of the great characters whose stories are intertwined with the sea and its force. He sets their
is changing. As Margaret Cohen obser ves in
The great wave depictions of 19th Centur y
images within the ubiquitous frame of the
her essay Fluid States, we are witnessing ‘a
Japanese ar tist Hokus ai are a point of
smar t phone device upon repurposed images
shift from what might be called a solid to a
reference for William Mackinnon and in
of wave pictures found in sur f magazines.
fluid world view. As we witness globalisation
his large painting Green wave, Mackinnon’s
The new cult of big wave riding made only
developing to a new level in tandem with new
sur fers are humbled by a wall of water. It
possible with the new aids of the ski tow in
technologies we are once again able to recall
looms beyond large in his imagination as an
and captured by photographers leaning out
the sea as a frontier zone ‘
honest acknowledgement of the natural fear
of helicopters, sets the dare devil sur fer
(1)
and trepidation felt in the presence of such
against the against these power ful forces
It is a testament to the wider penetration of
The other essential factor that unites the
power. For the brief moments of exhil ar ation
of nature. Bennies wor k is a contr asting
board riding now into mainstream culture that
disparate elements within both sur f culture
and speed, the v ast major it y of sur fer s
meditation on the elemental and my thical
such a proposition is possible, yet sur fing
and the ar tworks in this exhibition is what
spend most of their time waiting for a wave
power of the wave.
exists as an activit y that defies easy
Mar k Str anger discusses as the ‘shared
categor isation. It seems to be dr iven by
ec static exper ience that constitutes
c o n troversies and excites deep passions –
a collec ti ve consciousness on a global
and as such it becomes fer tile territor y for
scale’. (2) All of the ar tists in this exhibition
FO OT N OT ES
ar t making. Tensions and dialectics abound;
sur f and their intimacy with the activity has a
described as both a spor t and an ar t, a
direct bearing on their work.
(1) (2)
Mark Stranger, Surfing Life - Surface, Substructure and the Commodification of the Sublime, Ashgate UK 2011, p1. Margaret Cohen, ‘Fluid States’, Cabinet, Issue 16 The Sea Winter 2004/5, p2.
05
CUTBACK: THE PERFORMANCE BY EMMA
“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.” — William Shakespeare, As You Like It
COLLERTON The ocean is a stage, and Cutback: Surfing
another day, Peter disappeared and Westerly
his work and the printing techniques that
me chuckle; to bring out the vain, stupid, vulgar,
Through Ar t ’s exhibiting ar tist s are it s
Windina emerged. After a trip to Thailand in
reference mass production, Rak notes,
naive side of us and mask it with googly eyes.”(5)
ac tors; each has an intrinsic connection with
2013 he officially became she after gender-
“While most people want to be perceived as
His The Julian Trunk animation in the exhibition
the sea that informs their practice.
reassignment surger y. Wester ly made her
unique individuals, their identity performances
was commissioned by sur f brand Rhy thm
debut on Australian national television,
are heavily indebted to media stereotypes and
and comprises of 120 pen and ink drawings
The theatrical paintings of Joel Rea employ
astonishing many and was met with a
often counteract a need to be distinct.”
of a sur fer riding a wave. It is set against
the ocean with a rogue wave as a backdrop.
passionate kiss from fellow sur fer Nat
His super-real painting technique has a
Young. Andrew Kidman who calls the ocean
Nanda Ormond grew up surrounded by family
1960s sur f bands The Bel Airs and Dick Dale
cinematic quality as he captures moments
home, documents his peers through various
and friends who sur fed. He told Surfing
& the Del Tones.
from life and his imagination. He explains, “I
mediums. Of his photograph of Westerly,
World’s Mike Jennings in an inter view, “When
do create paintings that look like epic movies
which features in the exhibition, he noted,
you are surrounded by something, you want
The ocean stage set, and the ar tists
and I’m inspired by things like the new wave of
“Westerly wanted to dress up for her surf.
to find something else – that was what I was
i n t r i n s i c a l ly connected to it, has evolved
special effects in movies.”
She wanted people that saw the photos to see
doing. I sort of regret it.”
(1)
surfing as a dance, as a performance...”
a cruisy soundtrack that loosely channels
(2)
In
(4)
It was comics and
beyond the stereotypes that emerged from
watching car toons that interested Ormond,
films such as Gidget (1959), Blue Hawaii
His paintings Resolution and New Wave,
1971 Drouyn attended NIDA, where he studied
who had a dream of being a Japanese animé
(1961) and The Endless Summer (1964), which
featured in the exhibition, explore the futility
Method acting which he drew upon for his
animator. He has since embraced sur fing
popularised sur f culture. The Cutback:
of life through the ocean as a metaphor. He
sur fing and teaching. It’s referred to as ‘The
and earns a living as a freelance illustrator.
Surfing Through Art exhibition, which seeks
describes it as a place where you can sink
Drouyn Method’.
Ormond explains, “It gives me great satisfaction
to explore the ar t of sur fing and alternative
to take a scene witnessed while out surfing
aspects of surf culture, is just the tip of the
and develop it into a dr awing that makes
iceberg.
or swim, where the waves can crash and destroy but then cleanse to star t a new life.
A fellow sur fer who draws parallels between
After witnessing a person drown, he likened
surfing and dance is Ben Rak. His Performance
waves to the Grim Reaper, evocatively
Anxiety series consists of almost life-size
captured in Resolution, in which a rogue
aluminium figures in stances that are familiar
wave crashes towards a lone man who is
both to sur fers riding a wave and dancing
looking death head-on.
rituals associated with his Jewish faith. Imprinted on each figure is imager y that
06
(3)
FO OT N OT ES
IMAGE: ANDREW KIDMAN, Westerly Windina QLD Australia 2009, photograph, Courtesy of the artist.
1.) Matthew Ogg , Enter the dual worlds of Joel Rea, Grind Magazine, January 2011. Available: http://www.joelrea.com.au/event_images/news_20110603212231.pdf 2.) Email from Andrew Kidman to Emma Collerton, 11 November 2014
In 2003, one of Australia’s sur fing greats,
references sur fing through the brightly
3.) Artist statement from his 2013 Performance Anxiety exhibition at Kudos Gallery, Sydney.
Peter Drouyn, almost drowned in a wipeout
coloured tropical Hawaiian T-shir t designs
4.) Mike Jennings, ‘Famous & Cool. Meet Surfing World’s Resident Artist, Mr Nanda Ormond’,
at Burleigh Heads. While he lived to sur f
juxtaposed with portraits of Jewish clergy. Of
Available: http://au.rhythmlivin.com/2013/10/08/nanda-ormond-is-famous-cool/ 5.) Email from Nanda Ormond to Emma Collerton, 4 December 2014.
07
CHRIS BENNIE
BIOGRAPHY. Bennie graduated in 2009 with a Doctor of Visual Arts from Queensland College of Art, Brisbane. He won the Clay ton Utz Ar t Prize (2014), the Swell Sculpture Festival (2013) and the Gold Coast Ar t Prize (2012). His work has been included in group exhibitions, including Flying Colours, Gold Coast City Galler y (2010); Revolutions–Forms That Turn, Biennale of Sydney (2008); Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Galler y of Modern Ar t, Brisbane (2008); and Plus Factors, Australian Centre of Contemporar y Ar t, Melbourne (2006). Bennie was awarded the Australia Council for the Arts New Work grant (mid-career) and the Regional Arts Development Fund grant. Recently, as par t of an Asialink Residency Laborator y at Youkobo Ar t Space, he has researched tsunami-affected communities and objects in Japan. Bennie lectures in Interdisciplinar y Sculpture and Fine Ar t at Griffith University Queensland College of Ar t.
ARTIST STATEMENT. The Waves is a project that continues my interest in repurposing things by appropriating images from popular sur fing magazines such as Sur fing Life, Tracks, Sur fer and Stab. These magazines provide an abundance of full-page glossy spreads. They often feature a sur fer, which I have omitted wherever possible. In their place a classical character or deity sits majestically aplomb each wave on a mobile device. Achilles, Arjuna, Dionysus, Gilgamesh, Enkidu and Krsna protrude from the waves, stare down its face or at its crest. The ability to swipe a mobile device places the project in a contemporar y, but fleeting, context. However there is a dialectic between water, in par ticular its power and destructive potential that is my thical and grounding. Although I sur f, It’s not often. I prefer the reliability of a pool. Swells are infrequent and unpredictable. Pools are consistent. I need ritual in my daily life. There’s not many available other wise. The thing about Gilgamesh or The Odyssey is that they are about ritual. They describe the rites of passage of their protagonists. Sur fing offers that, momentarily, when you nail a cutback or stand up for the first time.
IMAGES: CHRIS BENNIE, The Waves (Achilles) 2014 (top left), The Waves (Dionysus) 2014 (top right), The Waves (Apollo) 2014 (bottom left), The Waves (Arjuna and Krsna) 2014 (bottom right), photographs, Courtesy of the artist.
09
SHAUN GLADWELL
BIOGRAPHY. Shaun Gladwell studied at the Sydney College of the Arts; the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK. He represented Australia at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 and was awarded both the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schuber t Photography Award and the Shirley Hannan National Por trait Prize in 2014. His work featured in the 2014 Berlin Film Festival and 2013 Melbourne International Film Festival. Gladwell has under taken international residencies and commissions in Europe, Nor th and South America and the Asia Pacific region. Group exhibitions include Australia, Royal Academy, London; California-Pacific Triennial, Orange County Museum of Art, California; Video Forever, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Walking Sideways, Institute of Contemporar y Ar ts, London; and Parallel Collisions, 12th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Ar t, Ar t Galler y of South Australia, Adelaide. Gladwell is represented by Anna Schwar tz Galler y.
ARTIST STATEMENT. The Flying Dutchman in Blue (Coogee 2) is a photograph exploring my interest in the romantic tradition and notions of the sublime. The power of the Australian sur f is the stage for this figure that strikes a balanced and level pose seconds before being engulfed by the overpowering force of the wave. The Vitruvian symmetr y and order of the body is to be challenged by the erratic forces of the Tasman Sea. The power of photography is called upon to provide an instantaneous moment of stillness before the body is perceivably subsumed and disappears. A gesture of ambivalence, the figures outstretched arms are (n)either defiant of the surrounding forces (n)or submitting to the power of the ocean. As suggested in the title, the my th of the Flying Dutchman is evoked – a vessel doomed to sail for eternity is now re-imagined as an Australian sur fer or ocean swimmer.
IMAGE: SHAUN GLADWELL, The Flying Dutchman in Blue (Coogee 2) 2013, digital print on archival paper, Collection: Gold Coast City Gallery, Winner, 2014 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award
10
11
ANDREW KIDMAN
BIOGRAPHY. Kidman has an innate connection to the ocean that drives his ar t across music, writing, painting, photography, sur fboard shaping and films. He star ted sur fing when he was 10 years old and in 1988 was the Australian junior division champion. At 15 he began interning at Waves magazine and four years later was appointed editor. While working at the magazine, Kidman met surfer-shapers Wayne Lynch and Dave Parmenter, who imprinted an appreciation for alter nati ve board design and a countercultur al lifest y le. K idman’s wor k involves the documentation of his sur fing peers, including Geoff McCoy, Westerly Windina, Mick Mackie and Stephanie Gilmore. His publication Single, Studies of Movement includes an inter view with the acclaimed sur fer Stephanie Gilmore. Kidman’s most recent film, Spirit of Akasha (Warner 2014), premiered at the Sydney Opera House, closing the 2014 Festival of Sydney with Kidman and the Windy Hills per forming the opening track live to the film.
ARTIST STATEMENT. Andrew Kidman Interview: Stephanie Gilmore
Stephanie Gilmore:
I feel like to be a
girl and to be in the ocean you’re par t of Andrew Kidman:
How’s surfing empowered
to experience in their day lives. A lot of guys
your life?
are chasing big waves, gnarly waves and
Stephanie Gilmore:
I played ever y kind of
sport you could think of, I just loved winning, being creative and being competitive, but sur fing has always just been there. My Dad is going on 60 and he still sur fs more than anyone I know, so we have always just been at the beach… But surfing has effected every thing from having a different train of thought all through school, to now when I paddle into the ocean its my job, but at the same time I’m escaping ever y thing… its the purest thing I can do. Andrew Kidman:
IMAGE: ANDREW KIDMAN, Stephanie channels Rell Sunn at Duranbah after a session with her Dad, photograph, Courtesy of the artist
12
something bigger than what most people get
Is there something
they want to dominate the wave. Whereas, being a female you’re just out there enjoy ing it, having this relationship, a kind of bond with another woman. I mean, I call the ocean a woman – mother nature that’s what we call it... I think when females are in the water and riding waves and dancing on waves it’s a bond, a woman to woman relationship, like a mother and daughter. You learn so much about yourself from being out there, you learn so much about the ear th, ever y thing from how ridiculous the little things are that you worr y about, to
a b o u t b e i n g a w o m a n t h a t m a ke s y o u r
thinking about things that inspire you to go
r e lationship with sur fing different to a
onto bigger and better things. It’s truly the
man’s relationship with sur fing?
most special thing in the world. [Excerpt from Single, Studies of Movement]
13
WILLIAM MACKINNON
BIOGRAPHY. A finalist in the 2014 Basil Sellers Ar t Prize, Mackinnon graduated with a Bachelor of Ar ts (University of Melbourne, 2000), a Postgraduate Diploma (Chelsea College of Ar t and Design, London, 2006) and a Master of Visual Ar ts (Victorian College of the Ar ts, Melbourne, 2008). He worked for two years as Tim Maguire’s studio assistant from 2004 and has completed internships at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice, and the Chinati Foundation, Texas. In 2009 Mackinnon was resident ar tist at Mangkaja Ar ts, Fitzroy Crossing, and the following year worked as a Field Officer for Papunya Tula Artists in Kintore and Kiwikurra. He has held solo exhibitions nationally and internationally, including On the Edge of Knowing, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2014; William Mackinnon, Utopian Slumps at Ar t Stage Singapore, Singapore, 2013; and Landscape As Self-Portrait, Mor ton Fine Ar t, Washington, USA, 2012. Mackinnon is represented by Utopian Slumps, Melbourne.
ARTIST STATEMENT. I feel/know increasingly what is local, and
make art engaged with thinking and our culture
what is inside myself is the most
but in a less explicit way that the audience can
i m p o r t ant thing to focus on. Last year a
apprehend directly. The ideas are expressed
chance meeting with Peter Doig led to a
and communicated formally and traces of
rambling interesting conversation about
ones time imbedded in the work that will
painting. His show “100 years ago” was
only be understood with the time.
personal but highly engaging. It vindicated a
These days I mainly sur f around Torquay in
p o s i t i o n I h a d f o r m e d o v e r 17 y e a r s o f
Victoria. It is called the golden mile, because
p r a c ticing ar t.
there are so many quality right-hand reef
To make paintings on a large format using
and point breaks including Bells (home of
my own culture as the subject matter. To
Bells classic ATP Event) and Winkipop. I
be true to my experience of being a human
have been sur fing for 25 years mainly along
(thinking, seeing, feeling) in the world. The
this coast. I go to Indonesia most winters...
painting process had to be open, with room
My brother has a place at Por t Fair y which
for risk and failure and discover y. The work
is really cruisy. Way less crowded, picks up
would grow over time and act as a repositor y
heaps of swell and lots of serious quality
for all that I was experiencing in daily life
and secret spots we get to ourselves.
of being in the world and painting. I aim to
IMAGE: WILLIAM MACKINNON, Lull 2014, oil and on canvas, Courtesy of the artist and Utopian Slumps, Melbourne
14
NANDA ORMOND
BIOGRAPHY. Ormond studied classical animation at university in Auckland and worked in children’s T V and publishing, and now freelances almost exclusively in the world of sur fing. His work has featured in fashion labels One Teaspoon, Stolen Girlfriends Club, The Critical Slide Society, Rhythm and he is resident illustrator for Surfing World magazine. Most of his clients are sur f brands or people who have found him through the sur f scene. He noted, “I started surfing— much too late to ever turn pro—and since then going for a surf has been my balance in a career full of long hours hunching at a desk, poking my tongue out and frowning. Surfing is a pastime that can transcend sport. In its greatest moments it is just pure, thankful joy. There are, however, as many facets to surfing as any other notable human endeavour, and from these I make my living as a surf cartoonist.”
ARTIST STATEMENT. Made for local sur f brand RHYTHM, this animation was the final in a series of shor t films I helped make for them. I had put it off til the end because I knew that making it would be quite an effor t. I had been wondering what my inky pen style of drawing would look like as animation, or how I could even do it. Drawing and colouring ever y frame in inks seemed like over-endeavour, even for animation. Eventually I realised there was no way to cheat it so I set up a hot light box so the ink would dr y fast and went at it for a week or so. The result was ver y pleasing, it reminds me of skating down the sidewalk when I was young and hacking sur f turns on ever y driveway, and pulling in for green barrels under overhanging hedges. I really like the connection between skateboarding and surfing, how they influence one another in turn, how style transfers between them seamlessly if it’s done just right.
IMAGE: NANDA ORMOND, Studies for The Julian Trunk 2014, ink and watercolour on paper for 120 frame animation, Courtesy of the artist
17
BEN RAK
BIOGRAPHY. Rak graduated with a Masters of Fine Ar t (2013) from the University of New South Wales College of Fine Ar ts (COFA) where he now lectures at Ar t & Design. He was actively involved in Papunya Tjupi printmaking program at COFA and visited Papunya as well as Jabiru conducting printmaking workshops. Since 2006 Rak has been an editioning printmaker at Cicada Press. In 2012 he co-founded Throwdown Press, a print-based research group that invites ar tists to produce etchings and screenprints, creating discourse on the role of printmaking within contemporar y practice. Rak has been ar tist-in-residence at Cicada Press (Sydney 2013), Chiang Mai Ar t on Paper (Thailand 2014) and Canberra Glassworks (2014). His work has been included in national and international group exhibitions, including Semblance of Order, Aicon Galler y, New York (2014) and Corporeal, Geelong Galler y (2013). Rak has also curated exchange exhibitions between Sydney-based ar tists and international institutions (School of the Ar t Institute of Chicago, Alfred University, IVS Karachi).
ARTIST STATEMENT. Performance Anxiety is based on the idea that people in the developed world are entangled in an elaborate per formance of their identity. While most people want to be perceived as unique individuals, their identity per formances are heavily indebted to media stereotypes and often counteract a need to be distinct. By isolating indexes of both my Jewish heritage and an affiliation with sur fing subculture I deliberately position them within the conventions of media narratives and clichĂŠs. Thereby creating an amalgamation of iconic emblems, a type of per formance in which we all take part, each presenting our own cultural alignments and involving an interaction with the audience, shifting between action and reaction. The work is created mostly based on printmaking techniques which were initially developed as commercial production processes, implying that consumer influences play a role in the construction of our identity. They toy with the relationship between sur face and depth both visually and conceptually, questioning whether our identity is more about exterior than interior.
IMAGES: BEN RAK, Performance Anxiety 1 & 3 2013, acrylic silkscreen on aluminium panel, Courtesy of the artist
18
19
JOEL REA
BIOGRAPHY. Described as a Contemporar y Surrealist painter, Rea graduated from Queensland College of Ar t with a Bachelor of Fine Ar t in 2003. He has been selected for the Salon Des Refuses and Sulman Prize in Sydney, the Black Swan Award for Por traiture in Per th (where he was awarded People’s Choice last year), the Fleurieu Landscape Prize in Adelaide and he won the 2013 ANL Maritime Ar t Award in Melbourne. His work has been exhibited in Australia and the United States, including Based on Actual Events, Jonathan Levine Galler y, New York 2014; Another Time Another Place, Metro Galler y, Melbourne 2013 and Art on Art, Gold Coast City Galler y 2012. In the summer 2013 issue of America’s Art Business News magazine, Rea was shor tlisted as one of thir ty ar tists under the age of thir ty who are revolutionising the world of fine ar ts. Rea is represented by Galler y One, Gold Coast.
ARTIST STATEMENT. I love sur fing, but I’m terrified of drowning and shark attacks. Growing up near the beach, it becomes like ox ygen; you need it to feel normal. After I saw a guy drown and more recently I became a father, a new blanket of fear is instilled in me and I don’t go surfing alone anymore. My paintings are my my thology. I har vest ideas from my dreams, nightmares, fantasies and fears. My landscapes can offer sanctuar y or crumble into the depths of histor y, the oceans can crash and destroy but then cleanse to star t new life. The figures in my paintings move from scene to scene like the main characters of a book or film. In Resolution, the tsunami wave represents the Grim Reaper. I’ve placed myself as the business man, the paper chaser, about to die in calm salute to my impeding next journey, my paper ammunition in hand. I love to ponder the potential scene that comes after the one I show in the painting… To me it says; Death (the wave) has come, have you lived the life you wanted? I love how a beautiful wave can represent the Grim Reaper. Ar t is a wonder ful gift we give ourselves and each other.
IMAGE: JOEL REA, Resolution (detail) 2014, oil on canvas, Private collection, Courtesy of Gallery One, Gold Coast.
21
LIST OF WORKS
CHRIS BENNIE
SHAUN GLADWELL
WILLIAM MACKINNON
BEN RAK
Born 1975 New Zealand,
Born 1972 Sydney, NSW,
Born 1978 Melbourne VIC,
Born 1978 USA, Israel 1980- 2001,
Performance Anxiety 5 2013
Born 1983 England,
Arrived Australia 1999,
Lives Sydney and London
Lives Melbourne VIC
Arrived Australia 2001,
acrylic silkscreen on aluminium panel
Arrived Australia 1985,
Lives Gold Coast QLD
Website: www.annaschwartzgallery.com
Website: w w w.wmackinnon.com
Lives Sydney NSW
240 x 120cm and 240 x 120cm
Lives Gold Coast QLD
Website: w w w.benrak.com.au
Cour tesy of the ar tist
Website: w w w.joelrea.com.au
oil and enamel on canvas
Performance Anxiety 1 2013
Performance Anxiety 9 2013
140 x 205cm
acrylic silkscreen on aluminium panel
acrylic silkscreen on aluminium panel
Courtesy of the artist and Utopian
240 x 120cm
240 x 120cm
Slumps, Melbourne
Cour tesy of the ar tist
Cour tesy of the ar tist
Website: w w w.chrisbennie.com The Archer (after Chuang Tzu) 2014
Green wave 2013
JOEL REA
The Waves (Achilles) 2014
single-channel HD video, colour,
photograph
sound , 10:47 minutes
150 x 100cm
Courtesy of the artist and Anna
Cour tesy of the ar tist
Schwartz Gallery
The Waves (Apollo) 2014
Lull 2014
Performance Anxiety 2 & 3 2013
In Culture After Culture 2013
The Flying Dutchman in Blue
photograph
oil on canvas
acrylic silkscreen on aluminium panel
Single-chanel HD video, colour,
Resolution 2014
(Coogee 2) 2013
150 x 100cm
260 x 130cm
240 x 120cm and 120 x120cm
sound, 4min 20sec
oil on canvas
digital print on archival paper
Courtesy of the artist and Utopian
Cour tesy of the ar tist
100 x 100cm
Cour tesy of the ar tist
154.6 x 219.6cm
Slumps, Melbourne
The Waves (Arjuna and Krsna) 2014 photograph 150 x 100cm
Cour tesy of the ar tist
oil on canvas 61 x 50cm Collection of M & J Handy
Private collection, Courtesy of
Gold Coast City Galler y Collection;
Performance Anxiety 4 2013
Winner, 2014 Josephine Ulrick and
acrylic silkscreen on aluminium panel
Win Schuber t Photography Award
New Wave 2009
Gallery One, Gold Coast
240 x 120cm
NANDA ORMOND
Cour tesy of the ar tist
Cour tesy of the ar tist Born 1985 New Zealand, Arrived photograph
Born 1970 Canberra ACT,
Cour tesy of the ar tist
Lives Northern NSW
photograph 150 x 100cm Cour tesy of the ar tist The Waves (Gilgamesh and Enkidu) 2014 photograph 150 x 100cm Cour tesy of the ar tist The Waves (Humbaba) 2014 photograph 150 x 100cm Cour tesy of the ar tist The Waves (The Flood Tablet) 2014 photograph 150 x 100cm Cour tesy of the ar tist
Australia 2011, Lives Nor thern NSW
150 x 100cm
The Waves (Dionysus) 2014
22
ANDREW KIDMAN
Website: www.andrewkidman.com
Website: w w w.famousandcool.com The Julian Trunk 2014 single-channel HD frame animation,
Westerly Windina QLD Australia 2009
colour, sound, 30 seconds
photograph
Cour tesy of the ar tist
29.7 x 42cm Courtesy of the artist
Studies for The Julian Trunk 2014 120 ink and watercolour on paper
Home NSW Australia 2010
21 x 29.7cm
photograph
Cour tesy of the ar tist
29.7 x 42cm Courtesy of the artist Single - Studies of Movement - Featuring Stephanie Gilmore from the Spirit of Akasha Sessions 2014 single-channel HD video, colour, sound, 60 minutes Courtesy of the artist
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Waves (Athene) 2014
This publication accompanies
SPECIAL THANKS:
the exhibition;
The authors wish to thank all our colleagues at Gold Coast City
CUTBACK : SURFING THROUGH ART GOLD COAST CIT Y GALLERY 14 FEBRUARY – 22 MARCH 2015
Galler y for their assistance in the development of this exhibition: John Walsh, Stephen Baxter, Jodi Ferrari, Wendy Kessell, Eileen Patrick, Ian Tremewen and Mark Warne. The authors also wish to extend their thanks to the ar tists, galleries, Byron Coathup, Chris Bouffler, Fast Proof Press and Gordon Darling Foundation. Authors: Emma Collerton, Virginia Rigney, Gold Coast City Galler y Design: Byron Coathup (Studio byronc) Printing: Fast Proof Press Copyright © Gold Coast City Galler y Published by Gold Coast City Galler y Apar t from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no par t of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the Copyright owners.
ISBN 9 7 8 - 0 -9 8 71415 -7- 6
23
ISBN 9 7 8 - 0 -9 8 71415 -7- 6